This is the booth of USC-KNN at One Cebu Expo Aug 2009 at Cebu International Convention Center.

JC Organic Farm Products Display, One Cebu Expo, Aug 2009. first rack on the left

JC Farm Products - Malunggay Powder available in 20g pack

JC Farm Products - Pure Coconut Vinegar, lemongrass and garlic flavor; chili and garlic; chili, garlic, lemongrass; and classic or plain

JC Organic Farm Products are available at the USC-KNN booth Unit G1, The Plaza, Parkmall, Mandaue City, Cebu.

USC-KNN group is joining the Grand Halad sa Kapamilya of ABS-CBN/dyab this Nov 28, 2009, saturday to be held at USC main campus.

Please watch out for USC-KNN participation in the Christmas Bazaar of  Southcrest School in Banilad, Cebu City, Dec 4-6, 2009

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe

Week XXIX, Year B

18 October 2009

Isaiah 53:10-11 /// Hebrews 4:14-16 /// Mark 10:35-45

We are fast approaching the end of our liturgical calendar with just six weeks remaining before we start the season of Advent, those four Sundays before Christmas.  And just like the days, today’s Gospel shows us Jesus Christ moving fast toward Jerusalem for His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  In fact, Jesus had just made His third and final prediction of His Pasch in the preceding scene of this Sunday’s Gospel.

Unfortunately, His disciples have failed anew to grasp its full meaning that the brothers James and John requested Him that they may sit beside Him when He comes in His glory, one at His right and another at His left.  Worst, the other ten heard it that they became indignant with the brothers James and John because they also have their own vested interests!

Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt.  But it shall not be so among you.  Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.  For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mk.10:42-45)

Imagine Jesus calling the 12 together before Him, full of love and understanding in the midst of their rivalries, His openness to the request of James and John as well as His fairness with the ten others.  He was very accommodating, allowing each of the 12 to be his true self no matter how silly they may be!  What Jesus had was purely His love and care for them, not patience nor resignation.

And that is exactly how the Lord deals with each of us today!  Never does He frown or ask us to shut up, nor snicker with our stupid requests and crazy ideas.  He simply waits lovingly for us to get a feel of His life and of Himself as we journey through life.

I could feel all these things from Jesus Christ because like the 12, I must confess that I could not also grasp fully yet the Lord’s brand of service and servanthood.

Yes, I am still searching for it, even grappling with it especially in these last five years of my 11 years of priesthood.  When I think of serving the Lord, I think of giving myself by preparing for my every celebration of the Mass, hearing the confessions of people even on ordinary days, visiting the sick, counselling the troubled and lonely, teaching my students, and praying always.

But, deep down inside me, I always feel these were not enough; something was still missing that whenever I would return home to our residence after a hard day’s, and even night’s, ministry and work serving Jesus among the poor or the sick or troubled, I felt I have not truly served at all.  This is especially true when I open the fridge, or turn on the TV, or simply lie on my bed with the air conditioner humming with its cold air.

Last Friday I felt Jesus giving me a glimpse of His kind of service after praying over this Sunday’s Gospel when I visited our Parish volunteers in the office, Ka Maring and Ka Luring.  They were showing me our photos taken during our enriching Marian pilgrimage last Monday that we decided to have another similar trip on December 09 to Intramuros and a Lenten “visita iglesia” either to Laguna de Bay area or Batangas on March 22 next year.

At first, I balked with the March 22 trip because that’s my 45th birthday!  But, I consented later and willingly gave up my tradition of silently celebrating my birthday with my family because I realized then an important aspect of being a servant of Christ which is daring to become dependent on others.

All my life even before my ordination, I have thought of service as doing and working alone and independently for Jesus Christ through His people; it was more of a one-way traffic for me because it is just me, and me alone, doing things for people.  As much as possible, I only ask help from God and not from people I serve because I don’t want being indebted with anyone.  I am the kind of person who tries my very best of standing on my own, who would rather give than receive, help than be helped to the extent that I would willingly bear every hardship and difficulty than rely on others. Admittedly, it was only last Friday while after praying and meeting our volunteers when I was able to admit that my kind of service was after all filled with pride and even arrogance to some degree.  I refused to be served by others because I have unconsciously separated myself from the genuine love being offered by others just like the rich young man last week in the Gospel.  I have failed to feel and experience the love being shared by others serving me that in the process, I have forgotten to put much love on my service too.

That Friday afternoon as I looked back on our recent Marian pilgrimage, I learned that to serve like Jesus Christ is not really about giving and doing but more of being; that a servant of the Lord is somebody who is one with the people and not detached from them, daring to become dependent than independent, allowing others to serve us too so that we could serve better in the process.

To depend on others does not necessarily mean to be served; it is more of relying on somebody in order to get a more realistic feel of how to truly serve. This is symbolism of the Suffering Servant in the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah:  Jesus indeed bore all our infirmities by offering His life as a ransom for many because He relied on the Father than on His own powers.  He could have avoided being crucified but did not do so in order to be one with us as our Priest according to the Letter to the Hebrews who went through every trial in life except sin; how could we be so afraid to ask His help if He Himself went through all our difficulties in life except sin?

Here we find the service of Jesus Christ more of being one with others unlike the Gentiles whose rulers lord over them.  Again, service is more about relationships based more on love and communion rather than position and ranks, power and authority.  During our pilgrimage, I pointed out to my parishioners the pre-Vatican II architecture of churches with long communion rails around the sanctuary:  its purpose was simply to separate the priests and the lay people.  Following Vatican II, church architecture went into semi- or circular lay-outs or designs that gravitate towards the altar to show the communion of the clergy and the faithful.  Sad to say until now in our country, we are still living in what the late Cardinal Dulles identified as “hierarchical model of the church” wherein authority of those above is the stress than the “communitarian- communio model” of fellowship of life, charity, and truth animated by the Holy Spirit through witnessing and dialogue.

Notice the kind of services being rendered by various organizations these past weeks in the aftermath of “Ondoy” and “Pepeng”— relief operations have sometimes turned into advertisements and worst even as propaganda and election-campaign or simply for “pogi points.”  The best measure of service, of being truly a servant of Jesus Christ is when after we have served others, they in turn serve us too not in exchange of what we have done to them but simply because our being one with others had come into a full circle of brothers and sisters living as one in Christ Jesus.  Hence, when we serve, we shatter all walls and differences that separate us from each other through ranks and positions and start living as one family, one community of believers just like when we celebrate the Holy Eucharist.

Amen.

fr. nicanor f.lalog II

santissima trinidad parish

malolos city 3000

bulacan, philippines

Vitamin and Mineral Content of Moringa Leaves

Fresh Leaves

Carotene (Vit. A)* 6.78 mg

Thiamin (B1)                         0.06 mg

Riboflavin (B2)                     0.05 mg

Niacin (B3)                              0.8 mg

Vitamin C                                220 mg

Calcium                                   440 mg

Calories                                     92 cal

Carbohydrates                     12.5 g

Copper                                       0.07 mg

Fat                                                 1.70 g

Fiber                                           0.90 g

Iron                                            0.85 mg

Magnesium                           42 mg

Phosphorus                           70 mg

Potassium                              259 mg

Protein                                     6.70 g

Zinc                                            0.16 mg

Dried Leaves

Carotene (Vit. A)* 18.9 mg

Thiamin (B1) 2.64 mg

Riboflavin (B2)                20.5 mg

Niacin (B3)                        8.2 mg

Vitamin C                        17.3 mg

Calcium                           2,003 mg

Calories                             205 cal

Carbohydrates            38.2 g

Copper 0.57 mg

Fat                                       g 2.3 g

Fiber                                 19.2 g

Iron                                 28.2 mg

Magnesium                 368 mg

Phosphorus                 204 mg

Potassium                   1,324 mg

Protein                              27.1g

Zinc                                 3.29 mg

*Figures shown for vitamin A are carotene content for fresh leaves and beta-carotene content for dried leaves.1, 5

Source:  treesforlife.org

Fresh Leaves

Gram for gram, fresh leaves contain about

4 times the Vitamin A of Carrots

7 times the Vitamin C of Oranges

4 times the Calcium of Milk

3 times the Potassium of Bananas

¾  the Iron of Spinach

2 times the Protein of Yogurt

Dried Leaves

Gram for gram, dried leaves contain about:

10 times the Vitamin A of Carrots

½ the Vitamin C of Oranges

17 times the Calcium of Milk

15 times the Potassium of Bananas

25 times the Iron of Spinach

9 times the Protein of Yogurt

Source:  treesforlife.org

Malunggay Capsule Procedure
To make food supplement in form of a capsule, powder the roasted malunggay leaves by using a kitchen food processor or blender.

Empty capsules can be bought from drug stores.

Fill-in the empty capsules manually with the powdered leaves.

If  mass production is desired, a capsuling machine can be used. It is recommended that in manual procedure, our hands should be sanitized with alcohol.

Place the filled-in capsules in amber bottles or any appropriate container.

Small transparent plastic bags can also be used as packaging materials for the malunggay capsule.
The finished product should be stored in a dry place or in a refrigerator, just ensure that your product is kept dried.

These malunggay capsules are now ready to be
taken orally as a natural food supplement.

source:  Bureau of Plants and Industry

Malunggay Tea   Making
For those who want to preserve their malunggay leaves, this kind of material can be processed into tea and food supplement in form of capsules. This processing technology is a way to preserve the harvested malunggay leaves. The Bureau of Plant Industry through its Malunggay Technical Team developed this technology to
be simple and economical.
Leaf Processing
A. Harvesting.

Harvest 2-3 young green compound leaves that show no signs of yellowing. Place collected leaves in a tray and transport them in a drying shade.
B. Sorting and Cleaning.

Immediately after harvest, clean and sort out the collected  leaves from unnecessary materials such as dust and other foreign particles.
C. Air-Drying.

Lay out the leaves on a clean sheet of paper for 2-3 days. Manila
paper, bond papers, and other similar materials can be used as the drying mat of the foliage. Do not sun dry for it would destroy Vitamins and minerals. Expect for the weight of leaves to decrease after drying. After the drying time, shake off the leaflets from the leaf petioles. The leaves will naturally fall-off or detach from the petiole.
D. Shaking in screen or basket.

Shake the dried leaves by using a 0.2-0.3cm fine mesh to remove leaf petiole that was shed out during the drying period. This
process will eliminate other unnecessary materials that were incorporated in the dried leaves during the drying period.
E. Pan Roasting.

It is recommended to roast the leaves to further reduce the
moisture and sanitize the leaf materials. This is done by constantly turning over the air dried leaves for 2-3 minutes the in a pan over a low fire. This process also l helps preserve the leaves and improve the tea’s flavor. Be careful not to overcook the leaves. Place the roasted leaves in a transparent plastic bag, tighten the bag and crush the bag until the leaflets are broken into tiny powder particles.
F. Storage.

Storage conditions affect Malunggay tea quality and flavor. As much as possible do not expose the material directly to sun and air. Pack and store the leaves in a cool, dry, dark place in air-tight containers like glass jars.

Brewed Malunggay Tea
To make a tea, place half a teaspoonful of crushed dried leaves of
malunggay in a tea bag. Empty tea bags can be bought from food processing stores or sometimes Chinese drug stores. Seal the bag using a mechanical sealer or  a small stapler.
Ingredients
1 malunggay tea bag
1 cup of hot water
Procedure
Bring the water to boiling point and add enough water to submerge the malunggay tea bags and let it sit for a few seconds before pouring out the water.

Add hot water and let the malunggay tea leaves steep for 1-3 minutes.

Brewed Malunggay Iced Tea
Ingredients
1 malunggay tea bag
1 cup/glass of water with ice
1 tsp sugar or honey
Procedure
Bring the water to boiling point and add enough water to submerge the malunggay tea leaves and let it sit for a few seconds before pouring out the water.
Add hot water and let the malunggay tea bag steep for 1-3 minutes.

Place unrefined sugar or honey into a second tea pot if desired. Pour the hot tea into the tea pot and stir.

Place ice in cups or glass and pour the hot tea into it.

Let the tea cool for a few minutes before drinking.

Add ice to have a cold drink.

source: bureau of plant and industry

USC-KNN joined the One Cebu Expo, held at the Cebu International Convention Center last August 2009.

USC KNN Booth at the One Cebu Expo, August 2009 - posted by: crisonthesidelines.wordpress.com

Here are the products I displayed at the Expo.  My company name is JC Organic Farm Products.

One of my products, Cristina's Malunggay Leaf Powder -JC Organic Farm Products - crisonthesidelines.wordpress.com

Chili and Garlic Flavor Pure Coconut Vinegar. Naturally Fermented for months, no chemicals added. Our vinegars are from Bae, Sibonga, Cebu - JC Organic Farm Products crisonthesidelines.wordpress.com

Lemongrass and Garlic Flavor Pure Coconut Vinegar. Naturally fermented for months, no chemicals added. Our vinegars are from Bae, Sibonga, Cebu JC Organic Farm Products crisonthesidelines.wordpress.com

Vermicompost JC Organic Farm Products crisonthesidelines.wordpress.com

And here are the other products displayed by my other team members

Dalaguete Pickled vegetables. made by Balud Women's Group in Dalaguete, Cebu

Sunshine Center recycled paper products made by special children.Sunshine Center is a special school catering to tiny tots and grown up special persons

FLACS probiotic health soap. Made by Mr. Norman Saluntao

Tassels and More, made by Ms. Genevieve Ferrater

10Karat gold jewelries and fashion accessories made by Victoria Alcover

It’s just so sad that there were no pictures of MBF Banana Flakes and Camote Flakes and the other Spektrum Native products and Fashion Accessories

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe

Week XXVIII, Year B

11 October 2009

Wisdom 7:7-11 /// Hebrews 4:12-13 /// Mark 10:17-30

I was so bothered yesterday morning as I left our parish for a meeting in Quezon City.

It was supposed to be a happy weekend for me as I had finally slept solid eight hours, the sun was shining brightly with a warmth so delightful, and, the night before, I received  some “pasalubong” from a parishioner consisting of a big Nescafe Gold, Arnott’s assorted cookies, Ferrerro chocolates, and some magazines from Down Under.

I felt so good yesterday morning that after praying, I opened my Facebook to thank Edith and family for the pasalubong as well as to look for TrueFaith’s song “Sumasarap ang Gising” at YouTube imagining at how I would savor the aroma of that coffee.

Just before I turned off my computer, I checked on my FB again and saw my former GMA7 News editor’s blog, Ding Gagelonia’s “At Midfield”:  he had updated his article “Philippines’ Season of Grief” into “Grief-upon-Grief” about the very sad plight of our brothers and sisters in Northern Luzon where almost 200 people have been reported killed or missing due to landslides in Benguet, thousands of families displaced in Ilocos Region, and 60% of Pangasinan under floodwater.

What bothered me so much was not really the news but the sense of detachment from our suffering brothers and sisters up North.  Yes, I have seen the news Friday night and checked on some friends, even discussed with Fr. Pablo of how we could send some of our relief goods.  How could I had easily forgotten them as I almost worshipped the sun, feasting on the abundant food and comforts I have?  How easily have I lost the enthusiasm in learning more, doing more about the victims of Pepeng because life had slowly crept back into normal here after Ondoy?

That was the thing that bothered me yesterday morning:  my apparent detachment from the plight of the people battered by Pepeng.

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing.  Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  At that statement his face fell, and went away sad, for he had many possessions. (Mk.10:21-22)

Focus on how Jesus Christ made a lot of non-verbal communications using His face in today’s Gospel:  He looked at the young man, looked around the people, and looked again to His disciples.  And every time Jesus would look at everyone, He was expressing His deep love!

Jesus not only spoke about His love for us—He makes us feel it so intensely in the same manner that a human face would show it!  Experts say that 80% of our communications are non-verbal and most often, we would rely on them than on the verbal ones.  And we know it so well that the face could not hide our feelings; there’s no way of keeping what’s true inside with our facial expressions.

To look, especially with love like Jesus Christ did to the young man,  is to establish a union, an attachment or connection leading to a oneness.  That was what Jesus tried to express to the young man who had unfortunately failed to feel or grasp fully.  The young man did not get it at all because he was so concerned with his wealth, with his possessions!  Clearly, it is not a sin to be rich; no passage in the Bible declares it so.  In fact, Jesus, as well as St. Paul and other saints, had many rich friends who helped them in their missions.  What is sinful, of which rich and poor people are often guilty of, is when money becomes our god, when everything revolves around it instead of having Jesus Christ as the center of our lives.

The tragedy of today’s Gospel is not that the young man refused to give up his wealth and other possessions which is indeed very difficult; what he had missed was the opportunity of being one with Jesus Christ!  Of truly loving God than material wealth!  He had forgotten that with Jesus, one can never go hungry because there is always enough bread for everyone; that one would always be up and moving because every sickness can be healed; and, most of all, everyone is most welcomed to be with Jesus because He does not look at our sins but more on our being beloved children of His Father.

The Lord is inviting us today for a more intimate relationship with Him that is why He looks at us filled with love.  He is not asking us to become beggars, go hungry nor naked.  Yes, we can keep our cars, our houses, our computers, our cellphones, or whatever— for as long as we are not enslaved to these material things.  That is what St. Ignatius of Loyola calls as “creative indifference” :  I would rather be sick than well, poor than rich, etc. wherein we are willing to let go of everything for God because He is our only and truest love.  When we love somebody, we only do and give them what they love even if we love doing or giving them with something else we personally like or love?  Why can’t we do it with God?

Jesus is not insisting Himself on us but simply invites us to love Him more because only Him could give us fulfillment in this life and hereafter.  It is Him who is personalized by Wisdom in the first reading because when we have Jesus in our hearts, we practically have everything:  “Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.” (Wis.7:11)  Remember how King Solomon had the chance to ask anything from God but instead asked for Wisdom, the ability to know what is right and wrong that made God so happy and made him the wisest person on earth?

When we were about to graduate from Theology and soon to be ordained, some younger seminarians asked me what I considered as the most important thing I have learned or valued in my six years of seminary formation?  I was surprised that since then and until now, I have only valued one thing in my life:  “for every here and now, I may say Yes to You my God.”

I must confess that a lot often, I fail but somehow, despite my weaknesses, sinfulness, difficulties and shortcomings, I strive so hard to do God’s will at all times.

When I had my vacation in the US (2004) and Canada (2005), I seriously considered staying there for good.  But as I prayed and discerned, I felt God asking me to serve His flock here in the Philippines.  Some people told me I was crazy , even foolish at how I had wasted those opportunities that thousands of Filipinos die to hope for; but, that’s how it really was because I love Jesus Christ more than anyone and anything else that I came home!

Some priests often ask me why have I not asked for a new assignment, or even have a parish of my own considering that I am already qualified; some would even argue that I should leave the shadows of my rector, Fr. Pablo, so that I would “bloom” as a person and as a priest, insisting that we were ordained to serve the Church and not anyone.  Fact is, since my third year of being assigned in our school with Fr. Pablo and even these last three years in our Parish, I have always prayed to God, asking Him if I could move out to have a parish of my own.  And every year, except only last May, I have stopped asking God that question lest I get hit with a bolt of lightning for being so stupid not to hear Him, and most of all, feel Him as He consistently asked me to stay, stay, stay.

When I tell my friends the things I go through in my ministry, in my relationships with brother priests and the lay people in our assignment, they all tell me to move out, be on my own…but when I pray over it, I feel God telling me something else.  I have stayed on in my assignment with the same brother priests not because I am afraid  to be on my own but precisely because I love God above all…because He wants me to stay here, serve my parish and our school, and help my Rector.

I have realized in the last 15 years of my life in my prayers that what matters most is not what we do or what we have achieved but what we have become— and that is, being one with, and being like Jesus Christ.

That I love whom He loves.

That I forgive whom He forgives.

That I do what He does.

That I live the way He had lived here on earth.

When we pray the Sacred Scriptures, we realize that indeed “the word of God is living and effective, sharper than a two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart” (Heb.4:12) because it strips us naked of every false projections and pretensions, convincing us deep down inside that nothing matters most in this life than our soul’s salvation.  Exactly like that  young man in the Gospel asking what good we must do to attain eternal life?  Like the Apostles, we are convinced too that it is impossible for us for to be saved but with Jesus Christ, it had become a reality already!

Today, Jesus Christ is not only speaking to us; He’s reaching out to us full of love.  See and feel His loving face in your hearts.  Be one with Him.  Remember the Gospel last week when He said “what God has joined together, no human being must separate”? (Mk.10:9)  It is not merely about divorcing a husband nor a wife but most of all, divorcing ourselves from God.  Anyone separated from God loses everything in this life and hereafter.

Today/tonight as we head home with a lot of smiles in our hearts and faces, let’s see the face of Christ among our suffering brothers and sisters up north.  If we are truly one with Jesus Christ, we would be willing to share and give unto others our time, talents, and treasures.

Prayer by St. Therese of the Child Jesus: “My life is but an instant, an hour that passes by, a single day that slips my grasp and quickly slides away.  O well you know, my dearest God, to love you, I only have today.”

God bless!

fr. nicanor f. lalog II

santissima trinidad parish

malolos city 3000

bulacan, philippines

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe

Week XXV, Year B

20 September 2009

Wisdom 2:12.17-20 /// James 3:13-4:3 /// Mark 9:30-37

As I prepared to write this “recipe for the soul,” I got another email commending my sharing last week.  It was so uplifting at this time for me, especially the quotation at the end:  ”Always be yourself because the people who matter don’t mind.  And the ones that mind don’t matter.”

Though it gave me a hearty laugh, I must admit the quotation was not totally true because in my 11 years of priesthood, I have come to value every person even those who cause me with pains and most especially, those whom I have hurt too.  I have experienced in my  many anointing of the sick how God values each soul even the most sinful.  Most often, people think we priests are insensitive that we don’t care at all with the people around us.  That is not true.  You just don’t know how hard it is also for us when we know we have said or done something painful or not good with others.  You double that feeling when we know there are people harboring ill-feelings against us or even dislike us.

Going back to the quotation I received, it strikes a similar chord with the Gospel of Jesus Christ because we have all felt how difficult it is to be “authentic Christians” or being true.  Without any claims to being a saint or filled with holiness, maybe you have also felt how difficult and even disheartening those times when we tried to become “authentic Christians”, saying and doing what is true, good and just because we suddenly become the persons “under attack” or “on trial”?!

The wicked say:  Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training.  Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. (Wis.2:12.17)

That is what evildoers do to people trying to do what is right:  they do everything and tell all lies to discredit the just, labelling them as impostors while they claim to be “prophets” even if what they say are far from being true.  And when men and women dare to be just and moral, bearing all the tortures and persecutions, even death, the more these evildoers become insidious which is exactly what they had done to Jesus Christ 2000 years ago!

When we go through such experiences wherein the tables are being turned against us for doing what is good, that is when we truly follow Jesus Christ because that is what to “deny one’s self, carry one’s cross and follow Him.” (Mk.8:34)  That is part of thinking according to God’s ways and not according to man’s ways as we reflected last week.

This Sunday, Jesus predicted for the second time His coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection to teach us anew another dimension on how to think in God’s ways on who is the Christ really is so that we would realize too what is true greatness and wisdom.

They (the Apostles) had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest.  Then He (Jesus) sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”  Taking a child He placed it in their midst, and putting His arms around it He said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the one who sent me.” (Mk.9:34-37)

Like the Apostles, we also continue to fail in understanding or even grasping the reality of the Christ dying on the Cross; how could the Son of the Most High, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity be a failure?  Now, that reality is compounded with the Lord using a child as His sign of true greatness and wisdom because like Him, every child embodies “sincerity”.

The word “sincerity” is from two Latin terms, “sin” or “without” and “cerus” or “plaster”.  In ancient time, as in today, there were fake sculptures used with plaster; genuine sculptures as works of art have “no plaster” or “sin cero”.  Hence, the term “sincere” or “sincerity” meaning “pure”, “purity”, and ”wholeness”.

A child’s sincerity could be easily seen in his complete reliance on what he sees or hears; a child does not embellish things and facts because he takes everything as it is.  Unlike us adults who always have to add or subtract something from whatever we see or have to make more appealing, always afraid of being rejected with the bare truths.  Perhaps this is the reason why parents get stressed with their children:  they find it difficult saying something and doing another thing!  Robert Fulghum wrote in one of his books the ten commandments of parenting and one of them is, “Don’t worry with what you say to your children; worry with what you do.”

Sincerity is a word on the brink of extinction in our society these days.  No wonder, we sometimes call or describe people as “plastic”, a material almost similar with “plaster”.  The recent news from the Senate clearly shows us that those supposed to look after our well being by enacting laws so that we would develop and prosper have nothing in their minds but their own interests.  Always addressing each other as “your honor,” they believe greatness is measured in power and wealth; most of all, in being served and feared.

According to St. James in today’s second reading, being wise according to man is often characterized with “jealousy and selfish ambition, disorder and every foul practice” while being wise according to God is always “pure, then peacable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. “ (Jms.3:16-17)

Last Wednesday as I knelt praying before going to bed, I asked God with sadness why He had called me to the priesthood with all my shortcomings and being too far from being like Jesus full of love and sincerity, gentleness and kindness to the people?  Why can’t people see you in the programs and rules we try to follow in our Parish and ministry?

There was no answer and I went to sleep with a heavy heart.

When I woke up, as I knelt again praying the “Morning Offering”, I felt God’s consolation as I saw the rising sun through my window as well as the flickering candle of my altar.  Like the Apostles, we need to be silent especially after misunderstanding who Jesus Christ really is.  Like the Apostles who could not heal the boy possessed by a demon in the preceding verses of today’s Gospel periciope, we need to pray more, and even fast so as to deny ourselves to follow Jesus closely.

And that was when I felt God telling me to just continue on with my life and ministry, no matter what others would say for as long as I see Jesus Christ in me and in our programs.  When we enter into silence and prayer, that is when we become like a child wrapped around by the loving embrace of Jesus Christ, like what St.Mark tells us today, and begin to feel that He alone is our peace, our joy, and our life amidst the pains inflicted on us by those trying to be “great people of wisdom” yet far from truth and reality.

Lord, keep us strong in swimming against the tide of this world; be our guide always even if at times life becomes grindingly too slow for us.  Amen.

A blessed week ahead to everyone and your loved ones!

fr. nicanor f. lalog II

santissima trinidad parish

malolos city 3000

philippines

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe
Week XXIV, Year B
13 September 2009

Isaiah 50:5-9a /// James 2:14-18 /// Mark 8:27-35

On my second year of seminary formation, I brought a small aquarium into my room to start a new hobby.  I still remember the only decoration I had in that aquarium: a frog sitting on a leaf with a sign that says, “Kiss me but don’t expect miracles.”

All my fish had rest in peace while my aquarium broke during our summer vacation but the memory of that decorative frog had remained vividly in me, especially when dark clouds loom over me as a priest.

A lot often, people expect so much from us priests that make me so sad.  Relatives and friends alike could not simply accept the reality of my life being a priest wherein I could not just do whatever they would want me to do like joining them during weekends or late nights, or simply going out.  That’s when I remember that frog in my aquarium to be relieved of the pains and hurts I go through.

I remembered that decorative frog I had as I prayed over today’s Gospel account:  Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.  He spoke this openly.  Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.  At this He turned around and, looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.  You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Mk.8:31-33)

This is considered as the center of the Gospel of St. Mark when Jesus was finally identified by Peter as “the Messiah” (the Christ) or the Anointed of God.  This happened when Jesus and the 12 were on their way to Jerusalem to fulfill His mission, making a brief stop-over at the pagan region of Caesarea Philippi.

This is also considered as the turning point of St. Mark’s Gospel because this is where Jesus would make the first prediction of His coming Passion, Death and Resurrection.  This is where Jesus revealed the deeper truth and reality of Himself as the Christ who would suffer as prophesied by Isaiah in the first reading.  Hence, this could also be our own turning point like Peter and the Apostles because what Jesus declared here was a far cry from our expectations of Him and of the kind of life we are imitating in Him!

“You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Mk.8:33)

Thinking in human terms is going into the “way of the world” that tells us to  “Just Do It” and “Obey your thirst!”, very self-centered and selfish.  What the world teaches us, as seen on TV, ads and other media is always on being “upwardly mobile” which is being rich and famous, powerful, beautiful and sexy.  In our world today, there is no other way but to be always on top— the greatest, the famous, the powerful.  And that is how success is gauged too; always in terms of money and fame and power.  Security is also seen in the same manner.  In our society today, the most important question is “How much do you have?”

On the other hand, the thinking of God is exactly the opposite of the world which really shocked Peter at that time and even us in this age.  Instead of “upward mobility,” Jesus tells us today about “downward mobility” like His Passion, Death and Resurrection.  Success for Jesus is not being popular or famous, of being served and idolized but being obedient like Him who declared that “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” (Mk.8:34)

Security for Jesus is not a question of “How much do I have?” but of “How much do I share?” as seen in the poor widow giving all the money she got in the Temple.  This is main point of St. James in today’s second reading:  “Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.” (Jms.2:18)  To have faith in God is to be open as we have seen last week with the person next to us.  Our belief in God is nothing if we live apart from one another, failing to see Jesus Christ in everyone we meet and hereby respecting them always than maligning or cheating on them.  This is the reason why people always have different opinions on who Jesus really is because we fail to lead authentic Christian life that is based on love that is willing “to lose one’s self.” (Mk.8:34)

These past two weeks since I moved into our new rectory, I have been experiencing some sort of depression or simply being melancholic.  I refuse to consider it as “midlife crisis” because I’m only 44 nor could it be a burnout because I love what I am doing.  There’s this feeling inside that I need something more.  Like Peter, I could feel Satan working in me to aspire for more things like money, pension plans or insurance, popularity and fame, most of all, acceptance.  Like Peter, I could not see why despite all my giving of self to God and His people, I am still being maligned, misunderstood, unaccepted and worst, literally poor, almost broke!  Like Peter, I could not see why Jesus Christ should end up crucified rather than be successful?

I am not Jesus Christ and I have so many flaws and imperfections; but, there are times when the pains and hurts are so strong that I cry, complaining to God that “I don’t deserve this kind of life…”  But, when I pray more intently, and look at my life these past years or just the last 12 months, I find that there are so much grace and blessings I should be thankful with than be sorry for what I do not have.  I have realized that when we see things in human terms, we would always be miserable and sad, and even always lacking because our life is not only of this world and in this world.  As image and likeness of God, we all share in His divine life and only Jesus can suffice us in this life.

When we have that loving presence of God in our lives, we come to realize and even see not only the past and present life we enjoy but even the future filled with faith that whatever suffering and daily dying we go through in this life would not end in vain.  As the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah affirmed, “See, the Lord God is my help; who will prove me wrong?” (Is.50:9a)

On this ”Year of Priests” may I suggest that you read or watch the classic film ”Diary of a Country Priest” by Robert Bresson based on the novel by Georges Bernanos.  I could identify very much with that ”country priest” who was so maligned by his parishioners, almost losing his vocation and faith in God. He just forged on with his ministry and life, praying more and working harder for the souls of his parishioners until he died of stomach cancer.  The unnamed country priest had a famous line that said something like “all I have are my empty hands.”

That’s what Jesus Christ also had that we must strive for—empty hands that would always reach out to help, assist, guide, embrace other suffering people.  The worst thing that could happen to anyone is die with hands full of material things, failing to grasp the warm hands of God among us.

May we always look at our lives in God’s perspectives that lead us to eternal life!  Amen.

A blessed week ahead to everyone!

fr. nicanor f. lalog II

santissima trinidad parish

malolos city 3000

bulacan, philippines

PS-Kindly pray for the eternal rest of two people so dear to me:  my Tita Eli Palis-Principe who died Wednesday night at age 85, and my first cousin, Tina Lalog-Garcia who passed away early Saturday due to cancer.  She was 45 years-old.  thanks very much!